1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to computer-implemented systems and methods, and more particularly to computer-implemented systems and methods for improving coding processing in a business-to-business environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
A typical extensible Markup Language (XML)-based transaction in a business-to-business (B2B) environment involves combining transaction information such as name, address, social security number, credit card number, etc. from various data sources. Some of this information is fixed for a given trading partner, transaction, and set of business rules. Existing solutions store the trading partner rules and transaction information in a database or file or in an XML format, which is then read and translated to the output XML format in the computer system running the B2B exchange. Unfortunately, in a heavy B2B transaction environment, the incremental costs associated with reading and translating the stored information can be significantly high.
XML files that carry B2B messages have varied static and dynamic content dependent on the trading partner profile (TPP). Within a given business message in an XML format, different business partners require different views of data as defined by the TPP. The result is an XML file that has static sections that are structurally the same but with different views of data. However, building a static structure has several disadvantages including a redundant/repetitive code, and that the static structure and content are intertwined with the business logic. Other disadvantages are that the static structure is not modular, which leads to limited reusability, and is not flexible, whereby changes might involve logic from several TPPs. Additionally, static structures are not scalable, wherein the introduction of a new TPP in the electronic B2B exchange requires additional code to be read, entered, and stored. Also, “building” an XML file for a given transaction is slower and inefficient because of building the aforementioned static portion and because of runtime inefficiencies.
Conventional techniques relating to different areas of XML technology exist. For example, XML techniques have been previously described for (1) XML construction—in U.S. Pat. No. 6,635,089 issued to Burkett et al; (2) XML storage in U.S. Pat. No. 6,643,633 issued to Chau et al.; (3) XML data integrity—in U.S. Pat. No. 6,687,848 issued to Najmi; and (4) XML translation—in U.S. Pat. No. 6,601,071 issued to Bowker et al., the complete disclosures of which in their entireties, are herein incorporated by reference. However, the conventional techniques may not fully provide for a solution that provides for XML file construction, structure integrity, and mass customization, which are three significant areas requiring a solution as identified by the industry.
Therefore, there remains a need for a novel system and method for speeding XML file construction for a B2B transaction which overcomes the deficiencies of the conventional approaches and which results in an overall reduction in the execution time of the B2B transaction.